This photo shows the Guatemalan community near a large banana plantation there. Seattle attorney and activist Eric Harrison, above center, says Del Monte fruit importers are buying bananas from firms that don't protect local people from chemicals and waste.

This photo shows the Guatemalan community near a large banana plantation there. Seattle attorney and activist Eric Harrison says Del Monte fruit importers are buying bananas from firms that don't protect local people from chemicals and waste.

This photo shows the Guatemalan community near a large banana plantation there. Seattle attorney and activist Eric Harrison says Del Monte fruit importers are buying bananas from firms that don't protect local

This photo shows the Guatemalan community near a large banana plantation there. Seattle attorney and activist Eric Harrison says Del Monte fruit importers are buying bananas from firms that don't protect local people from chemicals and waste.

This photo shows the Guatemalan community near a large banana plantation there. Seattle attorney and activist Eric Harrison says Del Monte fruit importers are buying bananas from firms that don't protect local

This photo shows the Guatemalan community near a large banana plantation there. Seattle attorney and activist Eric Harrison says Del Monte fruit importers are buying bananas from firms that don't protect local people from chemicals and waste.

This photo shows the Guatemalan community near a large banana plantation there. Seattle attorney and activist Eric Harrison says Del Monte fruit importers are buying bananas from firms that don't protect local

This photo shows the Guatemalan community near a large banana plantation there. Seattle attorney and activist Eric Harrison says Del Monte fruit importers are buying bananas from firms that don't protect local people from chemicals and waste.

This photo shows the Guatemalan community near a large banana plantation there. Seattle attorney and activist Eric Harrison says Del Monte fruit importers are buying bananas from firms that don't protect local

This photo shows a Guatemalan banana plantation. Seattle attorney and activist Eric Harrison says Del Monte fruit importers are buying bananas from firms that don't protect local people from chemicals and

This photo shows a Guatemalan banana plantation. Seattle attorney and activist Eric Harrison says Del Monte fruit importers are buying bananas from firms that don't protect local people from chemicals and

When it comes to claims against the banana business, the list stretches on.

School kids bombed with fungicide. Drinking water flooded with chemicals. Taxes dodged. Communities left sick and broke.

West Seattle attorney Eric Harrison is focused on the least among them – dishonest advertising.

And, as it turns out, lies told to Washington shoppers could mean clean water for Guatemalan children.

For the third time in four years, Harrison has sued a major banana importer – two Del Monte companies – asserting their claims to ethical behavior violate Washington state’s consumer protection laws against deceptive marketing.

“They make all these statements about how they support the communities, they’re great for the environment,” Harrison said. “But here it is. You go down there, and you’ve got these schools that are being aerial fumigated. Kids are getting sprayed on as they’re going to school. Their drinking water is polluted. …

Harrison’s earlier effort against fruit giant Dole ended with the company funding programs that provide water filters to several thousand Guatemalan families. Harrison said Dole and its Guatemalan supplier also agreed to stop flying crop dusters near homes and schools, and to improve water systems in communities near some of the plantations.

The former Peace Corps volunteer now hopes to win similar concessions from Del Monte.

Harrison sued Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A. Inc. and Del Monte Foods, Inc., earlier this month on behalf of Water and Sanitation Health, a nonprofit he founded in 2006. Harrison serves as executive director for the all-volunteer organization, known by its acronym WASH.

As lawsuits go, Harrison’s are unusual.

A claim objecting to Del Monte’s actions in Guatemala would be difficult to bring in a United States court. Instead, Harrison asserts the fruit producer, through statements made in the U.S. to American customers, broke Washington state laws against misrepresentation and dishonest business practices.

The corporation, Harrison said, presents itself as a steward of the environment in its far-flung banana plantations. In truth, the attorney continued, Del Monte’s farmers spray agricultural chemicals with abandon and dodge local taxes that could clean up the mess.

“These local taxes provide life-saving services such as clean drinking water projects … affecting the lives of approximately 17,814 Guatemalan people,” Harrison said in court papers filed in King County Superior Court. “Del Monte … nonetheless represented itself as a company that complies with all local laws and one that requires all suppliers to comply with local laws.”

Del Monte has not yet responded in court to the lawsuit. Requests for comment on the matter were not returned.

As Harrison describes it, the tax required of Del Monte is miniscule – .26 cents per 40 pound box of bananas. But Del Monte’s supplier hasn’t paid the tax in years, and now owes more than $5 million in back taxes.

Residents of Tiquisate, a municipality in south-central Guatemala, contend with polluted, unsanitary water in part because Del Monte’s suppliers fail to keep pesticides out of the drainage ditches and creeks surrounding the banana plantations, Harrison said. The local government lacks the money to improve the system, he continued, so people are left with bad water.

“No one else is going to help them, and they definitely can’t help themselves given the situation they’re in,” Harrison said. “They’ve got schools without running water or a bathroom, and you think they’re going to be able to take on a multinational corporation? In Guatemala?”

“We want justice for the people of Guatemala,” he continued. “And we want to send a message to corporations in America. … If you’re going to talk the talk, you better walk the walk.”

Harrison noted that Del Monte has described itself as a “leader in ethical and honest business practices” with a “commitment to integrity.” The corporation has also publicized in-house standards for suppliers that WASH claims are not being met.

In court papers, Harrison said his organization bought Del Monte bananas because of the corporation’s public claims. WASH, he said, “unwittingly provided moneys to a company that acts contrary to WASH’s expressed mission of helping impoverished communities in Central America.”

An engineer before he became an attorney, Harrison founded WASH in 2006 after returning from a two-year tour in the Peace Corps. Harrison was stationed in Honduras, where he worked on water projects.

Harrison sued Dole in 2011 while studying law at the University of Washington. That ended with a settlement that saw Dole provide hundreds of thousands of dollars in assistance to Guatemalan farm communities.

An action against Chiquita filed in 2013 ended in an undisclosed settlement. Chiquita was ordered to pay Harrison’s legal fees.

Harrison is representing WASH in another false claims lawsuit against the Rainforest Alliance, a group that offers environmental certifications to banana producers. That lawsuit is currently pending in U.S. District Court at Seattle.

The claims against Del Monte are being brought under the Washington State Consumer Protection Act, which provides for triple damages in some instances. A trial date has not yet been set.